Spinach and Prosciutto Lasagna

 This recipe originally came from Cooks Illustrated, though I tweaked it a bit.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb spinach leaves
lasagna
salt
5 tablespoons of butter
4 shallots
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup flour
3 1/2 cups of whole milk
2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan
Prosciutto
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg
fontina

First start by blanching about 1 1/2 lb of spinach for a minute in salted boiling water.  Put in ice water then drain and let it cool.  At the same time, fill a bowl with the hottest tap water and add some lasagna noddles, enough for several layers in whatever lasagna pan you will be using.

In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat.  Finely chop the shallots and garlic and add.  Stir and let the shallots soften then add 1/4 cup  of flour. Stir about a minute and then slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil and add bay leaves, nutmeg, pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Reduce heat to low and whisk for 10 minutes.  Remove the bay leaves and add parmesan.  Reserve half a cup of sauce in a bowl covered in plastic wrap.  Press the plastic wrap to the surface of the sauce to prevent it forming a skin.  Chop the spinach and add it to the main sauce.

I forgot to add prosciutto earlier, so at this point I chopped some prosciutto, fried it til crispy in some butter and added it to the main sauce.

In a food processor mix cottage cheese, egg and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Spread the reserved sauce on the bottom of the lasagna dish, then layer noodles on top add spinach mixture, sliced fontina then noodles, cheese mixture, some grated parmesan, noodles, basically you get the idea.  To be honest I can't exactly remember how I layered it, but the point is to top it with sauce and cheese (the noodles will burn if on top alone.)

I also didn't cover my lasagna, though the Cooks Illustrated version say to cover with foil.  I like a little browned cheese on top.  Cook at 425 for 20 minutes.

Who's Your Daddy?

Mark here... Laurel and I just sat down for the next episode of Friday Night Lights, "Who's Your Daddy?".  I've made us a Spinach and Prosciutto lasagna.  This episode was a real good one.  The general plotline has the new QB from Louisiana that Buddy Garrity brought in vying against Matt Saracen for the starting position.  But we also get to see a bit more of Tammi Taylor's character.  Coach Taylor springs a party for the football team on her and she shines despite the last minute notice.  The Coach sees no problem with whether the party is for 50 or 150, but Tammi, despite being pissed off, recognizes whats going on and pulls it off.  Separately Matt clearly has a crush on the coach's daughter.  This is a bit funny because early in the episode when Coach is giving Matt his "get your head in the game" speech, he tells him to get the girl he likes in the backseat of a car.  Later in the episode the coach figures out who the girl he likes is.

We also get to see Jason Street in his rehabilitation center and his new roommate, who's a bit rough with him.  At the end it turns out to be some tough love.  Tyra makes an appearance to urge Jason on in one scene, but its a good scene, especially considering that both their significant others are fooling around. Which is interesting...I sort of forgive Lyla a bit because she at least feels guilty and has visited Jason. Tim Riggins is sort of a real dick.  He hasn't visited Jason in the hospital and yet he's kissing his girlfriend (and making a point to tell her how much he thinks of her).  I mean, come on! You are so torn and guilty you can't visit your best friend, but you have no problem making out with his girlfriend...and then chasing her?!?

Hi Laurel here.  First of all, Mark's lasagne was amazing!  Second I agree with Mark on all points.  I really love this episode, it's the first we've seen that really embodies what I love so much about FNL...delving into the lives of all these people who so far we have just seen a glimpse of.  We see for the first time the dynamic of Coach Taylor's marriage...Sometimes they disagree and sometimes they are upset with each other but at the end of the day they totally have each other's back and really go to great lengths to support each other.  Some other wives would have used the poor party planning on coach Taylor's part to prove a point and let the party fall on it's face, but Tammy goes to great lengths to pull off the party to support her husband (and maybe to save face in the town but I really think it's mostly to support her husband).  Her daughter does a lot to help out too, even though up to this point she has seemed like a bitchy rebellious teen in this episode we see her strong side.  At the end of the day she too is willing to go to great lengths to support her family.

Also in keeping with what I really love about FNL is that we really get into Matt Seracen's drama this epsode.  I love that the show really shows you a slice of life of what each of the characters are going through,  and this episode we start to get a glimpse of what Matt is dealing with.  Poor guy.  His grandma has dimentia, and his Dad is away in Iraq so he is saddled with the responsibilty of caring for her.   And from what we've seen of their interaction during videochat his dad doesn't really believe in him.  It will be interesting to see how this effects Matt's choices.  Right now he has a choice in his personal life and in his football life whether he is going to step up to the plate or whether he is going to retreat, we will have to see which way he goes for both.    Also he gets beat up by a rival football team this episode and coach Taylor is the one who comes to pick him up from the hospital.  Coach Taylor is put in the position of being his substitute father figure which maybe is good for both of them?  Also Tyra is so awesome this episode.  She goes to see Jason, who she is not super good friends with and gives him some straight talk (which he hasn't really heard from anyone so far about anything) about why Tim hasn't been to see him.   (basically because he is being a baby.)  but like Mark said Jason's new roommate gives him some straight talk this episode too which we can tell is good for Jason.